Dive Review of
Dive Center Thalassa/Hotel Santika in
Indonesia/Bunaken

Truk Lagoon, Bikini Atoll, Thailand, NC, Lake Ontario, Caymens, Florida

Dive Conditions

Try to keep dives to about 1 hour & no gloves  

There was no camera table and the boats were crowed, but no serious
problems.  An AC room is provided at the dive certer for photo equipment.  

Overall Rating

The hotel is a comfortable and clean facility with pool, spa etc..  The
service and food were good, but english was very limited.  The hotel
accepts credit cards, but had some trouble with American Express.  Make
sure you arrange in advance if you want to use AmEx. The dive center is on
the grounds of the hotel and is able to efficiently service a large number
of divers.  We made 8 dives in three days.  Dive sites included Bunaken,
Bangka Island (90 minutes north) and sites near Thalassa.  The nearby dives
had 8 divers on board while the northern trip ($20 extra) had 6 divers. 
There was one divemaster per 4 divers.  All dives were drift dives with
some strong currents and surges.  Picture taking was dicey in the strong
currents.  The northern dives had wicked currents.  The walls offered
beautiful soft/hard corals plus tons of tropical fish, but nothing big.

My only negative comment concerns the boats.  The first boat was a local
hire and not from the dive center.  It didn't have a head and was a bit
crowded with 8 divers and camera gear.  The second should have been
comfortable, but had a fuel system problem which resulted in strong
gasoline fumes.  Even the divemasters complained.  The third was the
"speedboat" which had no head & was overcrowded, but the trip
was short.

Overall Santika/Thalassa is a good value and offers a nice experience for
non-divers.  The more hard core UWPs will prefer Lambeth Strait. 

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